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3 SheetsSheet 1.

H. GREEN & J. BARROW. AP'PAIZATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISHING GAS. No.169, 52. P

atented Nov. 2,1875.

N. PETERS PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D. 0,

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H.6REEN &

I 3 Sheet sSheet5 ELGREEN & J. BARROW.

APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING AND EXTINGUISH-ING GAS. N0. 169,352.v Patented Nov. 2,1875%.

N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. n. c.

PA E T omen HEN-R GREEN, or PRESTON, AND JOHNMBARLRO'W, OFGLA1YTON,'GREAT r BRITAIN:

, IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR LIGHTING Annex-r1nculsnmc eAs.l

Specificationforming-part of Letters Patent No. 169,352, dated November 2,1875; application'filed 'September'17,1875. l

, To all whom it may concern: I Be it known that we, HENRY GREEN, of

Preston, in the county of Lancaster, Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, gas engineer, .and JOHN. BARROW, of Clayton, near Mam chester, in the same county, manufacturing chemist, have invented improved means and apparatus for opening the supplyof gasto burners, igniting the gas,

the lights, cation: 7 v 7 This invention is'designed to furnish practicable and reliable means of enabling gas to be readily turned on and ignited, andthe light to be afterward extinguished, a's may be -reand extinguishing of which the following is a specifiaquired, at any burner, or at a number of burners or places simultaneously, or nearly so. For this purpose, to each lampor burner we apply a small collapsiblevessel or chamber, worked by changing the gas-pressure, and

connected to and operating a valve,,to. effectthe openingand closing, as required,of an orifice or gaswaycommunicating with the burner, said collapsible vessel being provided with a governing weight or body, toprevent v the expanding or opening out of the collapsi- 7 Me vessel by the gasuntil. for thatpurpose, a

predetermined pressureof gas,exceedi ng the ordinarymaxim-um Working pressure in the mains, and sufficientto displace said govern,- ing Weight or body, shall. have been P11610117 and having its action so governed by a cam arrangement that, notwithstanding any variation in pressure that may occur withinthe ordinary workinglimits after'the gaswayto ithe burner ,hasbeen, opened, a constant flow of gas to theburner shallbe maintained until, on the. gas-pressure being temporarily augmerited beyond the ordinary maximum Workf ing pressure, and subsequently red-uced,.the position of the camior holding device, herein ;aftcr described, whereby the collapsible vessel ...has,beenhe1d in its partially-expanded position, is changed, leaving the, collapsible vessel or chamberfree to collapse or closeup, and thereby tocut off the gas-supply. We eff'ectlthe ignition, of the gas ,by bring- ,ingtogether in a :uniting chamber or vessel,

" arranged in juxtaposition to the gas-burner orifice,.or,to orifices in a messenger-pipe, suit- ;ablechemical agents, one suchrag'ent being in a liquid state in the uniting-chambeninto which the other chemical agentor "mixture is introduced in the form of a pill or ball, which is decomposed on meeting the liquid agent,

(and by their action produce the requisite flame for, ignitingthe gas issuing from the burner.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use ou-rsaid invention, we-now\ proceed to describe the manner of performing the same,,reference being had to the accompanyin g sheets of drawings and I the figures and letters marked thereon.

Thesame letters of reference are used to denote. equivalent partsfin eachiof the several V16WS.-

Figure 1 is a sideelev-ation, partly in section,

of an apparatus-according to our invention, showing the-positionsof the parts-which obtain, when communication between the burner aandwthe gas-mainis closed. Fig. Zis-asimilar -view, showing.thepositions of the parts which obtain" when .the collapsible vessel is fully expandedby the gas-pressure. Fig. 3 is an elevation at right-angles to Fig. '2; Fig. 4

l is a plan. :Fig. 5,.is a longitudinal vertical'sec- ,tional view of. the l collapsible :vess'el. andvits appurtenances. Fig. 6 is .a transversesection of part oiithe same. .rFig. 7 is arplan,- showing the arrangement of'the gas-passages. Figs. S-and dare-detail views'of ,the cam arrangement for regulating the collapsing of the col- .lapsible vvessel, and holding it at the proper )times in alpartially-expandedposition;

, 1. wisthe burner, to which gas is conducted by apipe, b, communicating witha nozzle, 0,

terminating within vthe. collapsible vessel or chamber d, composed :of a..rbase, "al made for convenience in parts-"screwed together,- as shown, and a crown aplate, d hinged at :01,

joined rtogether by a flexible connecting piece or band, 11 which. may .be: of leather. The base d is, by. preference, cast-in three pieces, two of which parts have channels, which, when the two parts are put together, form passages,

thisbeing a more ready and cheap mode of construction thandrilling holes in a solid casting. Within thechamber d is a lever,e, having its fulcrum at 0 an inverted cup-shaped valve, 6 at one end, and a weight, 0 (or it may bea spring operating in the same direction as the weight shown,) at the other end,

..said weight causing that arm of the lever which carries itto preponderate slightly over the other arm, thus keeping the central division of the valve above the level of the mer- .;.cury or sealing-liquid in the cup or vessel 0",

containing the nozzles c 0, except when the cap is held down by the crown-plate d to which an armor hook, d is attached, for insuring the raisingof the centraldivision ot' the valve out of the sealing-liquid when the collapsible vessel is expanded or opened out by gas entering from the supply-pipe.. f is the entrance for gas,fed by a supply-pipe from the main, c is the orifice or nozzle communi- .cating with the supply-pipe, which also communicates, by a. passage,g, with the compartment h of a trap, constructed as shown, and ,operating as hereinafter described, for opening or closing the gaswayto the collapsible vessel 01 when} the gas-pressure in-the main .is temporarily increased sufficiently to overcome. the resistance ofa body,.of water or liquid in the trap, and thereby to. gain admission to the chamber 11, The weight of the water'to be displaced in the trap must slightly exceed the maximum ordinary working pressure, so that no gas shall enter the collapsible vessel except when'the pressure in the mains 1s mcreasedbeyond. said limit. As the gas enters the collapsible vessel at a pressure exceeding the resistance offered by the crownplate d the vessel is. expanded. By this ar-. -,rangement,'.when the collapsible vessel 01 is collapsed or.close'd, communication is cutoff between thenozzles. or orifices c c by the central division of the valve e (seen best in Fig. 6) dipping into the sealing-liquid in 0"; but

when the collapsiblevessel is expanded by Mercuryor. other which maybe screwed in more or less, forreg:

.-,ulatin g the level. of the sealing-liquid in the pipe or vessel'cfl 1 through'fand-g', and flowing into the com- 1 partment'hlof the-trap, as described, presses thereinagainstjthe surfaceh? of the water or.

Gasentering the apparatus liquid, which is ,forced up a into -the ,compartmen th until the surface h is depressed, by I a. pressure exceeding the ordinary working pressure, below theorifice {of the bell-mouthed qtube or conducting-,passageh whereupon gasflows by the tube h into the compartment it, i and thence by the passage h enters the 001-.

lapsible vessel {1, which is thereby opened out against the valve of the internal projection d of the crown -plate d is now left free to descend and raise the partition of the valve above the level of the mercury, thus placing the nozzles c c in communication with each other, so that gas entering at y will flow through c and c to the burner a.

On the extra pressure being taken off, the surface of the water or liquid in the compartment h will rise, so as to again seal the mouth of the tube h and the gas remaining in the vessel (1 will .escape therefrom by the small orifice d" The lower edge of the rim of the liquid 0*, effectually prevents the escape of any water that may splash or be forced up the tube k into the chamber h. When the gassupply is to be either turned onto the burner and ignited, or out off and extinguished, a slight augmentation for a few seconds of the gas-pressure in the mains beyond the ordinary maximum working pressure will suflice, which augmentation is effected by means of a regulator or governor at thev gas-works, or elsewhere, as is well understood. 7 A 1 The collapsible vessel iscaused to remain in a partially-expanded position by a mechan ried by a small bracket, j on the crown-plate dfland having'its axis at j This cam is formed with two notches, 3' j, and provided with four pins, 1070 k 10 or cross-pieces, traversing the groove in its periphery, which pins or crosspieces operate in conjunction with a pawl, 1, working on a pin, Z. Attached-to the base d 'of the collapsible vessel-is a pin or stop, m, Fig. 1, operating in conjunction with the .cam j, into one or other-of whose notches j j this pin menters' when the collapsible-vessel d is collapsed. or closed. In Fig. l'the collapsiblelvessel is shown in this position, wit h the. pin or'projection min the notch j On now expandingthe vessel the' cross-pin it of thereby partially rotatingthe cam, so that on Lthel gas-pressure being'again reduced the descent of the crown-plate; 61 Will be arrested by the pin or. projection m coming in contact with gcollapsible vessel partially expanded, so that gas may continue toflow to the burner or until, on its being desired to shut ofi' the gas from the. burner, the pressure is againteinporarily augmented beyond the ordinary maximum cam-j will, by the action of the pawl l, as bej :isbrought into position toreceive the pin or projection m.- 011 the. extra pressure being or expanded, so that the Weighted endof the lever 0, previously held up by the pressure valve, by always dipping into the sealinggas into the main body of the collapsible ves-i sel. h? isapipefor returning to the reservoir.

ical device consisting of 'a'gr'ooved'cam, j, car-..

the cam i will enter the bendof the pawl'l,

thepart j of the cam j, which will keep the working.pressure,- as before, whereupon the fore, be again partially rotateduntil-its notch nowtaken off, the.crow'n-1)late dwilldesce'nd,"

pushing down the end of the lever with the valve, whichwill thereupon seal the nozzle or orifice c. The cam j'is prevented from being accidentally turned back by the arrangement shown in Figs. 8 and 9, wherein m m are washers of leather'or other flexible substance, fitting on the axisj one at each side of the cam j. vjZis a metal washer, having through it a hole corresponding to the section of the axis 3' which at this point is of the form shown in full lines at j inFig. 8, to prevent the metal washer from turning. 'j is a nut, by which the whole may be tightened up. more or less,

to adjust the amountof braking action upon.

the. cam j To the crown-plate d is hinged or jointed a wire or rod,-n, cranked, or provided with a loop at W, bent like an elbow at W, and terminating in a hook, n n. Through this wire or rod motion from the crown-plate d is communicated to the lever'o 0 whose fulcrum is at 0 in the bracket 00, for raising the cover M of the uniting-chamber10 (which contains the liquid chemical agent) out of the mercury or other sealing substance contained in the channel surrounding the upperpartof said chamber, and to a lever, q, and an arm, 1", to regulate-the feeding one by one at the-proper times, from the pipe or receptacle .9, through the nozzle s, to the uniting-chamber 1), of the pills or balls t. t, composed of suitable chemical ingredients, for generating the. necessary flame for igniting the illuminating-gas issuing from the burner.

The lever g, which has its fulcrum at g is bent at one end, g and carries projections or stopping-pins g which enter orifices in the.

pipe or receptacle 8. .Into a similarorifice enters a projection on stopping-pin, r carried by the arm 1", which is bent at W, andhas its axis at T That arm of the lever q carrying the stopping-pins q? ismade to. p'reponderate. over the other arm of the lever. Assuming the parts to be in the relative positions shown in Fig. 1, on the'collapsible vessel at being now expanded, as already described, the .loop 1%,.

coming in contact with the arm 0, will, through it and the arm 0 uncover the uniting-chamber p, while, as-the. part a of the wire rises and releases the part g of the lever q, the stopping-pins (1 will descend between'the. pills t t,

and, by the. continued upward movement ofthe wiren, its part/n coming in'contact with the part 1 of the lever T, .will raise the stopping-pin r thus allowing the'pill t to descend bythe'nozzles into the liquid chemical agent" in the uniting-chamber p, and, by the action.

of the chemical agents thus brought together, generate thenecessarytemporary flame to ignite the gas issuing from 'the burner a. On.

now removing the extra pressurethe collapsiblevessel 01 will partially collapse sufficiently to close the uniting chamber pibyits stopper, but not to cause the actuation of the lever q, and, as already explained, the collapsiblevessel willbe. kept sufficiently expanded to allow of the continued flow of gas to the burner at, until the pressure is again temporarily augmented and subsequently reduced,as previous-j ly described. This last-mentioned reduction of pressure, besides cutting off and extinguishing the gas, will bring about the descent'of the wire a, thereby drawing down the party of the wire q, and raising the stopping-pins g so that the pill t may take the place of that shown at t in Fig. 1, and soon. The" hook n insures the descent at the proper time of the lever q.

The chemical agents we use for generating the necessary flame to ignite the gas issuing from the burner a, as hereinbefore described, are such as are well known to'chemists as pro ducing fiamewhen brought together, the one chemical agent being,'howeve'r, according to our invention, used in the form of. a liquid in the uniting-chamber, and the other chemical agent or mixture in thefor'm of pillsor balls. These pills or balls may be made of chlorate of 'potash mixed with sulphur or with sugar, or with. other suitable organic substances, and used in conjunction with ordinary rectifiedsulphuric acid as the liquid agent.

= In practice we have used pills or ballscomposed of a mixture of sixty parts, 'bywei'ght,

of chlorate of potash, twenty-seven parts, I by weight, of commonwhite sugar, and a sufficient quantity of flour paste to form the mixture into pills or balls. we have also usedpills or balls composed of fifteen parts, by weight,- of chlorate of potash, fiveparts of sulphur,

one part of rosin, four parts of nitrate of pot-' ash, one part of carbon, and a sufficient quantity of flour paste to form the mixture into pills or balls. j We have used the foregoing in conjunction with the ordinary. rectified sulphuric acid of commerce. Although in the drawings we have shown the nozzle and valve inside thecollapsible vessel, which arrangement we prefer, it will nevertheless be obviousthat they maybe arranged outside. 1 i It will be evident, also, that the arrangement. of apparatus shown in the drawings may be in other ways modified to suit circumstances,

without departing from thefidistinctive characterof our invention- Thus, for example, the hydraulic trap,*the nozzle c, and thelever c may be dispensed with. In'this case gas from the mainspasses direct into the collapsible vessel d, whence a single. nozzle sur-f' rounded by a cup of mercury or other sealing- ,liquid (like that "shown ate-"in Fig. :5) com-1 municates with theburner. The crown-plate d carries an inverted cup-shaped valve, (of; which the crown-plate itself mEiJYfOI'III'. part,)'. the lower. edge of whose rim dips into the seal-- ing-liquid, so that the nozzle is hermetically sealedwhen thecollapsible vessel. is in its collapsed state. :The crown-plate isweightedtoresist the maximum ordinary-working press- In another modification of our apparatus the crown-plate d carries two cup-shaped a'alves of different depths, operating in conjunction witha couple of nozzles surrounded by mercury, so that during the temporary augmentation of the gas-pressure beyond the flmaximum ordinary-working pressure the rims :ofb'oth of thvalves'willbe outof the merieury, and the nozzle leading to, the main burner, 'aswell as the nozzle leading to a perforated messenger-pipe, will be open for the tlow 0f gas passing through the main body of thecollapsiblevessel d; but when the tem- -,p,o r,ary extra pressure is removed the crown- .plate oi will fall, so that the deep rim will dip into the mercury and seal the nozzle leading, to the messenger-pipe, in which position the prawn-plate d will be retained with the shallower rim still above the levelof the mercury, so that ,the nozzle leading to the burner will xr fimain open for the flow of gas to the burner 'dlflbll'jlihfi extra'pressure is .again put on and 'abflkQD-Qfi', as before explained, whereupon the collapsible vessel will closeor collapse, so that bothlims will enter the mercury and seal the two nozzles. I

,Another plan is to allow the gas to flow direct into thecollapsiblevesseld,invert the noz- ,zle leading to the burner, and on one end of :the-lever e;(m ade stoute'r than shown in the drawings) place a cup-shaped valve charged with 1nercury. In this case the crown-plate d -is weighted by flat pieces of lead or other convenient means, so as to very slightly exceed the maximum working pressure of the gas in the jmains. The opposite end of the lever e to 7 that carrying the valve is slotted atone end, to allow of- '.the free passage withincertain 'limitsof a pin or stud attached at its upper :end 10 the crown-plate d of the collapsible vessel, and formedor. provided at its lower 'end'with-, a head-or projection, for lifting the k-endof .the lever or tumbler'e when the collapsible vessel 1d is expanded or'opened out by ,gas entering from the supplypipe. When the collapsible vessel d is collapsed or closed '-the.:slotted end of the lever e is depressed by "itsvowjn weight, thereby sealing the nozzle or 'orificeiby the mercury contained in the cup 'carried' by the other end of the lever; but when the collapsible vessel is expanded by ,thegas-pressure the slotted end of the lever,

-heing raised, depresses the cup of mercury,

- thereby nn'se'aling the nozzle or orifice, and

' permitting gas to flow to the burner. Mer

-' ,cury is supplied to'the cup through a nozzle- Q-shaped pipe carried in the crown-plate just above the cup, and furnished with a stopper.

It will be obvious that-in carrying out our invention the ,cam may be attached to the base-plate of the collapsible vessel, the pawl l and adjusting-pin m, or its equivalent, being attached to, and carried by, the crown-plate (1 and that the crown-plate, instead of being hinged, may be made to 'work in guides; but we prefer to hinge it to insure perfect working of the cam. v

Our method of igniting gas by the use of chemical agents may be advantageously employed in connection with lamps orburners,

to which the supply of gas is regulated by taps .or cocks inthe ordinary way. In such cases' we arrange a uniting-chambergp, in juxtaposition to each'burne'r, as shown in Fig.1; but, there being no collapsible vessel, we connect the lower end of the'wire n to one arm .of

a bell-crank lever working on a fixed stud or pin, in the ordinary way, and provided with a spring to retain it normally in such position .as to keep the wire a in its lowest position, from which it is raised as required, for operating the'cover a and pill-feeding levers, by pulling a wire attached to the other arm of the bell-crank lever, in a manner that will be readily. understood without furtherdescription.

We are aware it has before been proposed to automatically open the gaswayv to the burner, ignite and shut off gas by changing the pressure of gas in the mains; also, that the application of hydraulic scaling for regulating thelopening and closing of the gasway to the burner is not new; Moreover, we lay no claim. to novelty as respects the :usefor producing flame of the chemical agents hereinbefore referred to, except when the solid agents are formed into pills or balls, which may be delivered one byone into the liquid agent contained in the uniting-chamber, as hereinbefore described. What we claim is a 1. The combination, with a collapsible vessel, an inlet for gas, an outlet to a burner, and a valve for closing as required the communication between said inlet and outlet, of .a governing weightor body for precluding the expansion of the collapsible vessel untila predetermined pressure of gas exceeding the ordinary maximum-working pressure, and sufficient to displace said governing weight or body, shall have been put on, and a cam arrangement for retaining the collapsible vessel in a partially-expanded state, to permit the continued flow of gas to the burner, notwithstanding such variations as. may occur in the gas pressure within its predetermined-ordinary working limits.

I 2, The combination, with a gas-burner, of a uniting-chamber for containing a liquid chemical agent, a receptacle or reservoir for containing pills or balls composed of suitable chemical ingredients, and apparatus, operating as hereinbefore described, for regulating the delivery of said pills or balls, one at a time, into the uniting-chamber, as required, to produce the necessary flame for igniting gas issuing from the burner.

3. The combination, with the collapsible vessel d, valve 6 and orifices communicating, respectively, with the gas -supply and With the burner, of the hydraulictrap, for governing the admission of gas into the collapsible vessel d, andthe cam device j m, for retaining the collapsible vessel 01 in a partially-expanded state, said device being arranged to allow the vessel d to collapse or close as required, all substantially as hereinbefore described and i1- lustrated.

4. The combination of the collapsible ves sel d, operated and regulated as described, the rod n, the lever o 0 and cap to, for covering and uncovering the uniting-chamber and the lever g g and arm r, for regulating the delivery of pills or balls into the unitingchamber, as above set forth, for the purpose specified.

HENRY GREEN. JOHN BARROW. Witnesses:

JAs. CLARKE,

8 Wtn'ckley Street, Preston, Attorneys' Clerk. THOS. CLARK, 8 Wz'rwkley Street, Preston, Attorneys Clerk. 

